looking for a little piece of mind in a waked out, muddled up, mixed up world. I am EATING STRAWBERRIES.

Thursday, February 10, 2011

What will I die for... the idea of Australian Gothic

What will I die for. What will you die for? Will you be sleeping peacfully, old and wrinkled? Will you be caught in an horrific accident, or be diagnosed with cancer? Will you take your own life? Or might you die saving someone you love?
I've always felt death has a bad reputation, lol. But it is a conflicting feeling as i love the knowledge of life is fleeting, embrace it and enjoy it. But, i am not scared to die, i am curious to know what exsists after we leave this world. I wonder if I will make enough of a difference before i pass. I love knowing that the photo above is it, all that remains of a fleeting moment, that i will never again stand in that same spot and see that same thing, that the beauty that is present in the picture has already begun to fade, begun to decay and wither away.
the editing for this peice consisted of me changing the colour tone, making it more sepia, adding darkness around the eyes, bluring the background more and adding an old photo texture, giving it an "unloved" feel.
the original looked like this

the works i have been doing over the last couple of weeks have begun to once again reflect my obsession for Australin Gothic. It is and idea that i had, where I ant to explore gothic culture and make it Australian, create my own language, so to speak. I love gothic, the iade that everything fades, but somethig remains; that decay only creates a new kind of beauty.

But gothic images are heavily influenced but English and American ideas, usually our influences being some derelect castle, bombed ruin or oak forest. Those things dont exsist here, we have gum trees and creeping ivy. we have ragged mountain ranges and harsh, bright light. So where do we fit, where do we come in? and then I began to think, what if i used this to my advantage? what if i took our bright light, vibrant colours and amazing scenery and combined it with what i know.

My sudden use of flowers in "Sweet Surrender" was a simple solution to my idea. Bright and vibrant, but doomed to die and fade in a matter of days- a personal symbol for my take on the idea of gothic. the skull was the idea of deacy making a new kind of beautiful, and thus the thinking pattern begain. and then i began to think about larger scenery, the food crops tha exsist in my world, that appear and dissapear quickly during the summer, with is the backdrop for "What will I die for". i think subconsiously i struck on the idea long ago, but untill now did not understand what i was trying to do.
thats my train of thought, for now anyway.